David blinked his eyes open.

He was cold. And cramped. Through fuzzy eyes he could see only orange. Groaning, he reached for a zip above his head. He couldn’t remember deciding to go camping. The orange fell back revealing the woods behind.

The woods. Route 7. Pokemon.

“Oh Christ."

It was a cold morning and his breath fogged up the air.

“Deep breaths.” David pushed himself upright out of the mouth of the tent. It was morning on a.. on a what? Did this world have days of the week? Everything was gone. No more home. His family. His friends. All gone. 

David exhaled in a shudder. This couldn’t be real. Why him? He sank back down into the tent.

 

-.-

 

Eventually the realization he would be getting a Pokemon killed his stupor.

He pulled on clothes that were a little damp from the morning dew and yesterday's wash. They only made him more miserable, but he didn’t complain as the alternative was walking around in thermals.

David wasn’t hungry but he wasn’t sure if he would be able to get food in the city. As a compromise, he took bites out of an Oran berry while collecting things up.

Packing the tent back up tight enough was a nightmare and when he finally rolled it up he realized he had nothing to secure it. The rope that secured it had been flung away when he opened it yesterday and he hadn’t picked it back up. A minute searching the ground caused it to reappear but the tent had unfurled by then. He was eventually able to fasten it around the cylinder even if he had needed to kneel on the rolled up tent to do so.

It was a hassle he could have done without on a stressful morning.

Everything packed up, David was able to fit the remaining two Oran berries and one Touga into the top of the bag without squashing them, but it was close. Soon he was standing on the path at the entrance to the clearing and making one last check to see he had left nothing behind. There was some debris from the fire and he took a moment to make sure no embers were left that could reignite.

He’d be coming back here tonight if nothing changed, but it always paid to leave campgrounds like you found them or better. There was likely somewhere better to go or something better to do with his time, but it was hard to think ahead when he already felt washed out from the morning.

The walk back to Saffron was as pleasant as yesterday’s walk away from it.

Along the way David had a funny realization that with the large backpack and tent he must look like the Hiker trainers in the games. He just needed a wide brim hat and a red scarf to complete the look. A hat that would also help keep the sun out of his eyes. The sun was warming him up nicely, but with how low and a little to the right of the city it was, it stopped him from looking ahead.

Another item added to his shopping list.

Beth had told him that he could pick up his Pokemon after lunch but he planned on arriving a little earlier than that. His Pokemon might arrive sooner than expected and David could always hang around waiting. It wasn’t like he had much to do. Early Pokemon or not, he had several hours to burn.

So how should he burn them? He didn’t have a trainers’ license yet so no entry into the library or Pokecenter.

The Pokemart clerk had mentioned a market. Maybe he could find some way of earning money there? While he didn’t know the way there, it would be easier to ask someone now he didn’t look quite so homeless.

Several people were out jogging this morning, many accompanied by Pokemon. More people than he was used to seeing in the city or around campus even. It made sense to him when he thought about it. People had a compelling reason to stay fitter with all the Pokemon around. You never knew when you would need to run away.

David was able to catch up to and question one such jogger who had stopped to stretch while his Doduo paced around him.

The jogger didn’t seem surprised by his question and happily answered that the market was “a great jog away”. David hadn’t been in the south-west of Saffron yet, but the jogger said the market was easy to find if you headed closer to the south of the city and the route to Vermillion.

In the end he decided not to go via the city center/ Pokecenter as the jogger suggested. He had time to kill and a wander might help to get his bearings.

The city was slowly awakening. Wild Pokemon were out in force like at lunch the day before, scurrying around before people reclaimed the city. While he still took a step back when specific varieties? families? of Pokemon came close, it was much easier to enjoy their presence now. He couldn’t quite describe why. It was that feeling when a dog would come barking for attention, tail wagging or when ducks would investigate your presence at the pond. There was a vibrancy in it.

Along the way south he passed signs for the library and, not having a path planned, followed them.

The library building was small, similar in size to a town’s library back home rather than a city’s. More along the lines of the League Office compared to the expansive Pokemart or Pokecenter.

David was eager to go in. He had so many questions and that building could have all the answers. History books that he could scour for hints of others like him and details about the war. Biology books about Pokemon, explaining how such creatures were possible. Myths and tales about Legendaries and his path home.

But as Beth had told him, he didn’t have access yet. David could only sigh, turn and follow signs for Route 6 and the market.

 

-.-

 

The market was in a broad plaza. The stalls were semi permanent, with large awnings covering the narrow paths between them. Luckily David had no need to squeeze past people as he walked through the tight paths. The only people around were the stall owners who were in the middle of setting up.

A little bit of everything seemed to be on sale, from second hand electronics - some of which looked battered enough that they had to have been found out in the wild, to Pokemon energy items. He wasn’t quite sure what an energy item was, but it sounded like the held items from the game.

A few stalls sold food and these were his first target. Berries were his only food source at the moment and he needed to find out how much normal food would cost if he couldn’t find any. He stopped as he passed a stall where the owner was setting out rolls of bread.

“Excuse me, how much for the loaf?”

A lot it turned out. Not that David had a scale for anything, but 75P seemed like a lot for a loaf of bread. He held out hope that it was an artisan bread thing. He thanked the stall owner for their time, and left quickly.

With the price of bread in mind, David started a new campaign. Stall by stall he went asking if anyone had any work or odd jobs available. Most shook their heads and sent him on, eager to get back to setting up once they realized he wasn’t a customer. An elderly woman who was struggling with a basket of electronics seemed interested, but that dried up after a question about his Pokemon.

A few stalls later the owners didn’t even bother hearing him out before sending him away. The word traveled faster than he could. Hopes dying, he tried a new tactic.

“Excuse me, any chance you’d be interested in buying fresh berries?” David asked, holding out an Oran berry and the Touga.

The seller paused and turned to examine the berries before replying.

“Sorry, I don’t stock the Touga and I have enough Orans.” The seller turned back to stocking their stall without another word and David could only carry on, dismissed.

A few minutes later David was glad that he hadn’t gotten a yes from the seller when he realized he’d forgotten the most important part. He didn’t know the price of berries. He scoped out a few more stalls and found that Oran berries sold for about 30P each and while he didn’t find any Touga, the less common berries were about 60P. This could be his money maker. With some starter cash from berries he could start battling. 

With these numbers in mind he approached some more sellers but got rejections or low ball offers for a quarter of the price. It was disheartening, but he had no choice but to continue. He needed money and his enquiries about other work were shot down faster than the berry prices.

He struck lucky with an older seller towards the northerly section of the market.

“I can give you 15P for that Oran berry. The other Oran is too bruised I’m afraid. The Touga I can pay 40P for. And no higher than that! If I wasn’t low on stock from the tournament I wouldn’t even offer that much.”

While they weren’t great prices, this would be the first Poke David had ever held. He was also confident that no one else would pay more. He gave the man a nod and passed over the berries.

“Deal. If I find more berries would you be interested?” David asked, his heart bled a little thinking of the Touga he ate last night. What a waste of money. It’d been too spicy to enjoy anyway. He’d stick to Orans in the future.

“Sure. The rarer the better and they’ll need to be fresh. I’ll be getting more stock of Orans and the like soon.” The stall owner replied, taking the berries.

With 55P in his hands David thanked the elderly stall owner and walked back through the market. He didn’t have enough to buy anything yet but he could add to his growing wishlist. 

 

The wide variety of trainer tools in the market surprised him. The stall owners promised these strange contraptions did everything from increasing Pokemon’s strength to helping Pokemon learn Hyper Beam. Wasn’t there a TM for that? He didn’t believe the Hyper Beam story in the end given the state of the metal and glass device but the sales pitch did help him to a revelation. 

He had to actually train Pokemon.

No leveling up and discovering moves. Maybe. He would need to check that out himself, but from what the stall owners were saying, it wouldn’t be that easy. Training tools seemed to be the closest alternative to HMs/TMs.

Would HMs be needed in this world? He could walk between trees and rocks. He hoped that swimming was not something water Pokemon needed to be taught. That was a disaster in the making. Just the thought of trying to coax a giant Gyrados into the water..

‘Ugh. I need to get to the library.’

David had so many questions and they were all weird. If only they had google here. He could spend days browsing forums and wikis while camping.

He revised his earlier thoughts about the library. His first priority was going to be finding out basic things about battling and gyms. When he got his Pidgey, would he be challenged by everyone he meets? It couldn’t be an eye contact thing. He hadn’t seen any battles in the street and no one was running around staring at the floor. How do people figure out that someone else wants a battle? How did they decide on prize money?

All of these questions built up in his head until he could barely contain himself as he left the market and headed to the league office. He was in a shitty spot in this new world but Pokemon. He was going to get a Pokemon. He was going to be a Trainer. 

 

-.-

 

The office was still when he walked in. Beth was alone on the far side of the booths again and had someone in front of her. Fuzzy was sitting in his paper nest, unmoving and his paper dance was absent. Geodude was plonked in front of Fuzzy, motionless as well. David would have mistaken the Pokemon for an actual rock if it hadn’t been for the setting. Opposite them, where David had taken his test, a man sat with his feet up on the desk. The man’s red jacket was open and they were twiddling their fingers over the league symbol on the front.

As the entrance bell rang, the man’s eye flickered to David before dismissing him and returning to slouching in the chair. He had an unpleasant scowl on his face that looked permanent. The scowl with a previously broken nose made him look like a thug.

Beth looked up and gave David a small shake of her head before returning to the man in her booth. David sat and waited at the desk beside the slouching man. The oppressive mood remained until the man left Beth’s booth and hurried out.

“Finally,” Red jacket thug exclaimed before pointing his thumb at David. “Bethany, is this the bozo?”

“Warren!” Beth hissed. “This is David who is here for his trainer’s license and league Pokemon. David, would you come over here?”

David stood and walked over, frowning at Warren. As he sat Beth mouthed “Sorry”. 

“You could have just said yes,” Warren growled. Warren had followed David and now stood behind him as he sat.

“And you can wait by the desks,” Beth snapped back.

“I’m quite alright here. Now hurry up. I’ve actually important things I need to do,” Warren said, punctuating his statement by making a ticking noise.

Beth bristled but turned to David. David was uncomfortable sitting between the two, especially with Warren at his back.

“Thank you David for arriving early,” Beth said and shot Warren a nasty look. She hefted an advanced looking machine onto the counter. “In order to get your trainer’s license we will need a sample of your DNA. Would you put your finger into the slot here?”

This was a little weird but David didn’t have any issue giving up DNA. He felt a prick after he put his finger into the device. The machine was some sort of blood test. Beth handed him a bandage pad for his finger as he withdrew it.

Warren stopped his ticking noise and was now drumming his fingers on something metal.

“You’ll have to wait five minutes now as the license is printed.”

The five minutes were awkward with Warren standing behind him the whole time and Beth burying herself in the clunky computer. Warren made sure to fill the time making one ticking noise or another. Eventually the machine dinged and Beth withdrew a card from it.

“All clear Warren. You can leave now,” Beth said, stoney faced.

The man came forward and squeezed David’s shoulder before replying. “Too bad. I was looking forward to some entertainment. I guess you should keep behaving so I don’t have to deal with you.”

With that he left.

Beth let out a low scream as the door closed. 

“That Asshole! Every time. Why? Why is he allowed this assignment?”

David just nodded, pissed off at Warren but knowing he was out of the loop here.

“What just happened?” He asked.

Beth stopped her tirade and her shoulders fell. “The DNA test checks if you have a record. If you had, Warren would have arrested you. I’m sorry but I couldn’t tell you about it, it’s procedure. I’ve been trying to get them to use the local police, but as the check was initially to deal with war criminals, Ace trainers are the minimum requirement.” Beth removed the machine from the desk and replaced it with a box from the floor. “And it’s usually Tach, not Warren. Tach went through the recovery program and is always helpful. Warren is just an offensive prick. I’m so sorry about his behavior.”

Beth opened the box and what was inside removed Warren from David’s mind.

A pokeball. A pokeball that would be his. It looked exactly as he remembered, red and white with a black dividing line around the button on the front. He reached out and -

Beth drew the box back. 

“Ah ah a,” She tutted, smiling now. “I’m going to confirm a few things first. If I give you this now you won’t concentrate on anything. Firstly this trainer’s license is valid until two months after the season starts. That gives you from the 27th of February until the 27th of April to win two gym badges if you want to extend it. If you don’t achieve that, you will need to apply to keep your Pidgey.”

Beth slid a shiny metallic card across to David but he was staring at her aghast. Both because of keeping the pokeball away and her lack of faith in him taking two gyms down. The first gyms were easy.

“Now, as you have no badges, you have the usual restrictions on pokemart purchases. However you now have access to the library. In the Pokecenter you can receive one free treatment a week and 8 nights in basic center accommodation a month. For more details you can ask inside a center. Before we get to the Pokemon part, do you have any questions?”

David wanted nothing more than to skip to the Pokemon but he had his goals.

“I’m camping out on Route 7, but is there anywhere I could have a shower in Saffron?”

“The pokecenters have toilet and shower facilities. With the trainer’s license I just handed you you should have access. Just go up to the accommodation counter and ask.”

“I’ve no other questions then.” David replied.

‘That I can ask without seeming insane.’ he continued in his mind.

“Alright then, just some advice first. This Pidgey has been transported from the other side of Kanto. She will be disoriented when you release her. Do not release her in my office or the city. I recommend you wait until you get back to your campsite.” Beth glared at him before turning to look at the ball. ”Now some practical things. Pidgey are small and don’t eat huge amounts. They are also great at finding food so use that to your advantage. When training them, be careful of impact on their wings. Until they grow more their bones aren’t strong compared to most Pokemon. As Pidgey are one of the common 11, the library should have lots of information that you can access.”

With that she pushed the box to him. David reached in and grasped the pokeball. The first pokeball he had ever touched.

It was, well, a little cool.

There was no rush of air or thunder but it was a moment. Beth gave him a smile and shooed him away. Other people had arrived as they talked and a queue had formed behind him.

“Thank you. I really appreciate this.” David hefted his bag, still holding his pokeball and walked out.